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Sunday, March 13, 2016

This Week in Running

It's officially been a month since A1A, and I finally feel fully recovered and mentally there for running again.

This week was a nice improvement from last week. On Tuesday I met Elizabeth for quarter-mile repeats.

6 repeats at mid-7 pace felt good! Next time I'll wear my Garmin so we can be more specific about our times.

I missed my scheduled recovery run Thursday because I was traveling for work - I had my final meeting for the CRT cohort I've been participating in - and ended up getting home and eating dinner after 8pm, but I felt okay about it because my quads were still feeling Tuesday's run and I had a daunting tempo run planned for Friday.

That one went exceptionally well. I wanted to keep the tempo miles in the mid-10s, but I also wanted to include the bridge to help prepare myself for next Sunday's half.

Elizabeth and I ran a slow warmup mile, then began our increased pace on the first uphill slope of the bridge. We held it and continued to get progressively faster as the run went on; our fastest mile was the second bridge ascent! Our final mile felt like a real treat after those middle three, even though it was faster than our first.

That is honestly the kind of run that gets me fired up and excited to keep running. It felt so good to struggle through that one and push my body to a challenging pace. I was really proud of us.

Sunday called for a shorter long run because technically I should be tapering for Marco, but I still wanted to hit double-digits because that's always a confidence-booster. So I was willing to run anywhere from 8 (tapering) to 12 (I feel fantastic!) miles.

This run was rough. The tongue in my right shoe kept slipping, which gave me shin splints, and my stomach was upset for the first 2.5 miles. I finally ran back to the house to use the bathroom and retie my shoes, then headed back out. This was a mentally challenging run but by the end I felt strong and proud that I'd pushed through. My miles were progressively faster, with the last being the fastest at 10:26.

So over all, this week brought me closer to what my goal weeks look like, and I think I made good progress and had quality workouts, which is really what matters. I love when good runs leave me feeling ready and excited to get out there again!

How did your week look?Do you prefer doing speed work alone or with a buddy? Elizabeth was worried she wouldn't be able to keep up during the tempo, so we had a contingency plan in case she fell behind, but she did a great job and we ran the entire 5 together!

Great job on your workouts. I don't do speed work near as much.I did it first time yesterday and I can feel it today. I'd rather do it by myself. But It would be nice to do it w someone else that is faster than me so they can push me a bit.

I do miss having running buddies who are faster than me and can push me. Right now I'm the "pusher" usually. Sometimes it's nice to just meet for accountability purposes and then run the workout alone!

Awesome! I've come to really like my tempo runs & want to continue them after training. I'd love to do speed work with friends but can't convince anyone to join me at 5 a.m. Although, after training maybe I could do some on the weekends.

Way to go!!! Our spring training plans definitely have us in the same mindset. I was bummed that I missed Wednesday's run, although I had good reason (it took me 2 hours to get home from work due to traffic). While that wasn't ideal, In the end I had two good speedwork sessions and a medium-long run this week which makes it a quality week.

Awesome week of running!!!! I definitely changed my thinking as a runner. I used to do everything solo and now I enjoy running long with friends but speedwork I prefer to do alone. That way no one can see me near death, lol.

It seems to be the common consensus that speed work alone is best; I guess you can push yourself harder and focus on your own needs better that way. Plus, you're working too hard to make conversation, so a buddy isn't really necessary!

I love running speed with a buddy. We do however always pick looped routes so if we do get separated we still see each other. Most of the time it ends of being a start together end together thing but we both know the other is out there working hard.

I do like to run with a buddy, but for speed work I prefer to do it solo. I don't really have someone I can run with who runs the same speed paces as I do currently- they are either too fast so I feel like I'm dying when I run with them or slower than I want to go and it feels like it's not challenging enough for me.

I've really gotten into track workouts lately. At this point, I'm really looking forward to Wednesday so I can get in a good track workout this week!